“Looking for someone?” I ask, offering a smile I hope looks friendly enough. The last thing I want is for his bloated ego to take a swipe at me in the press.
“You, actually,” he comments, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. He steps over to me and I clear my throat, preparing to answer whatever question he has as best as I can, but he doesn’t turn the microphone my way to catch my answer. Instead, he taps at the screen, then turns his cold blue eyes to mine. “You enjoy the show last night?”
A small thread of caution ripples through me. “Yes.”
“Backstage, even,” he continues, staring into my eyes hard like he’s trying to catch me out on something.
Like who I was with.
Like who I danced with and who I kissed.
“Jude’s an old friend,” I offer, flat and simple, hoping he keeps it at that.
“Ah, yes. The great Oakley Keddimore’s step-brother is in the band. Your best friend, Oakley,” he adds, like I don’t already know this information. Our friendship was one of the stories that came out of our draft year, cameras capturing the moments we celebrated each other when our names were called.
“Yep. Do you have a question, Penton, or can I go? I have things I gotta do.”
“Like… see him?” Kyle asks, turning his phone around so I can see the screen. Alarm rattles inside my head as I’m faced with an image of Shiloh, his arms wrapped around his midsection as he stares out at the stage beyond where we were set up for the show. I’m standing behind him, but the shadows are covering my face, and though I can make out my height, I can’t make out my features.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do, Donny.”
“He’s a friend of mine,” I shrug, trying to play it cool even though my heart is hammering in my chest.
“Well, you might want to tell him that, because from where I was standing it looked like a hell of a lot more than friendship,” he comments, as he flicks his thumb on the screen revealing another picture that exposes a little bit more of my face. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking your face is hidden and that it’s you behind him can’t be proven. That’s what you’re thinking, right?” He gives me no time to respond before flicking to the next image he took. “Unfortunately, Dragonfly’s pyrotechnics caught you out, I’m afraid.”
A pit opens in my stomach as he scrolls through the images on his phone, each one depicting Shiloh and me at the concert last night, illuminated by bursts of color and light echoing from the stage beyond where we stood. There’s one of us holding hands. One of me behind him, my hands wrapped around his midsection. One of me pressing a kiss to the top of his head, and one of Shiloh tilting his head up to capture my lips with his own.
Fuck.
Me.
Sideways.
How could I have been so careless?
“What the fuck?” I whisper, as Kyle closes the gallery and grins at me.
“He’s handsome,” Kyle comments. “Not who I pictured you fucking, but each to their own I suppose. He’s a bit edgy for my taste.”
“What do you want, Penton?” I ask, glancing between his face and the phone he clutches in his hand. I wish I could grab it and smash it on the floor, but that wouldn’t do anything except call attention I don’t need my way. Plus, he’s probably got them backed up on the cloud or some shit at this point. He’s a snake, but a clever one.
“Get Oakley to call me,” he says, like it’s a simple thing. “That’s all I want. A conversation with your best friend.”
“Oakley?”
“Did I stutter? Yes. Oakley.”
Confusion ripples through me as I stare into Kyle’s blue eyes. “Why don’t you just contact his agent or the team PR department if you want an interview?”
He lets loose a small laugh, shaking his head. “He’s declined to meet with me. You get him to agree and I won’t release these images.”
“That seems extreme,” I comment, trying to stay calm even though I’m screaming inside.
“I’m willing to be extreme if it means I get what I want,” he offers, with a smile I’m tempted to reach out and smack off his face. “I’ll even be generous and give you two weeks to have him contact me. I know schedules can be busy, but make no mistake, if I don’t hear from Oakley Keddimore within the next two weeks, these pictures will be published online for everyone to see.”
“Fine.”
